a/n: this one's shorter because I have the holiday's blues and I feel really bad, but I didn't want to leave you all without your chapter!
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"Are you alright, my lily?"
You simply nodded, not looking at your aunt when she entered the room. You were sitting on your bed, your wedding dress in your lap, looking at it with a mixture of fear, doubt, and sadness.
You had lost track of how much time had passed since you ran away from Julieta; sometimes it felt like it was yesterday, sometimes like it was another lifetime. It didn't matter, the pain remained the same, sharp and cold. You missed her more than anything, and yet you didn't believe you'd ever be able to see her again.
"Y/N?" Laura asked gently, sitting down beside you on the bed.
"I don't understand, tÃa" you murmured.
"What thing, dear?"
"This pain" you said, looking at your white dress "...I remember how much it hurt to lose Santiago, I remember feeling like my soul was leaving me, like my body was on fire...I remember thinking I would never fall in love again, and now...now this hurts so much more."
"Oh, my child" the woman sighed, putting an arm around your shoulders.
"I feel guilty, tÃa" you admitted. "I feel like I'm failing Santi, that it's disrespectful to his memory...shouldn't I still be mourning him?"
"No, my lily, no" she quickly reassured you "Santiago is gone, dear, and nothing will bring him back. You know that, and you've made peace with it for over a year now...but Julieta is alive, here, close. And the 'what could have been' always hurts more than a permanent ending"
You looked at the white fabric in your hands, processing your aunt's words. You knew she was right, that you had already exhausted the pain of losing Santiago, processing and accepting it for over a year. Your heart now belonged to someone who wasn't a memory or a ghost, someone very much alive, very close, and yet, so unattainable.
It was ironic and painful, but it was what it was.
"It hurts" you said, tears streaming down your cheeks. "It hurts so much, tÃa"
"I know, my lily, I know" your aunt said, pulling you closer so you could cry on her chest.
You sobbed in those warm arms that felt more like home than any country or house could ever replicate. You cried like you hadn't in years, feeling the weight not just of the last few weeks, not even the last year, but of what felt like a lifetime of holding back the pain. Like a little girl who had been playing at being a strong adult for far too long and who today, at last, could rest.
You knew perfectly well what you wanted, what you needed, who you wanted to give that second chance of your heart to, but in this moment, those brown eyes could wait, at least until that little girl who had carried everything could rest in the arms of the only mother she had ever known.
__________________
"Sign"
AgustÃn jumped slightly when his still-wife entered the dining room and slammed the papers on the table without hesitation. He knew what they were, and he could see an intense fire in Julieta's eyes, one that told him this wasn't a suggestion or a negotiation. Even so, he tried to delay what was coming.
"Mi amor—"
"Don't call me that!" Julieta practically growled. "I'm neither your love nor am I going to play your game. Sign. Now."
"Wait a moment, let's talk properly—"
"The time for talking is over, AgustÃn" she cut him off "We had a deal, and I'm fed up with this game. I don't care what your plans are or what chaos you've brought into your life on your own; you won't drag me into it. Sign!"
"Julieta, the baby-"
"It's not mine" she said firmly "And they’ll never be. If there really is a baby on the way, it's your responsibility and your lover's. Our time together ends today. What you do from now on is none of my business."
"Are you going to deny an innocent baby the chance to have a stable family and a decent future?!" He tried.
"I have no responsibility for that life" she narrowed her eyes "You're the ones who conceived it, and I'm not going to carry other people's burdens anymore. You're old enough to know your duties as a father"
"Are you really going to deny our daughters the chance to-"
"Don't you dare drag us into this!"
Both AgustÃn and Julieta jumped, turning to see their three daughters in the doorway. They hadn't heard them arrive, and the woman suspected they had been eavesdropping from the start, but she had no intention of calling them out on it, not when their faces were a perfect amalgam of anger, pain, and weariness. From the day they promised to support her and actually want her to be with you, she had opened her eyes to the fact that her daughters looked just as miserable as she did, and that she wasn't doing them any favors by clinging to a rotten morality that only benefited an unfaithful husband.Â
"Girls" AgustÃn said gently "your mother and I were just—"
"Don't even try it" Isabela rolled her eyes. "You don't have a mask to hide behind, Dad. We all know what you did, what you're doing, and what you plan to keep doing."
"Not on our watch, pa" Mirabel said firmly.
Luisa remained silent, but the way she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, with a disgust and disappointment she had never shown toward the father she was so close to, was enough to understand that she agreed with her sisters' defense of their mother. Julieta was overwhelmed with emotion knowing that her three daughters loved her enough to protect her like this, even from their own father. Although she quickly composed herself, it wasn't the time to let her guard down.
"Listen, girls, you have to understand" AgustÃn sighed, trying to gain sympathy. "The baby—"
"It's not Mom's, If they even exist" Isabela said, as firm as her mother. "They aren't, and never will be, a Madrigal, and to try to pass them off as one, using Mom's gentle nature, when you cheated on her, is low and disgusting"
"Now, that's very harsh, Isabela" the man frowned. "It's a baby, they’re not to blame for anything."
"No, but you and that woman are" Mirabel interjected. "The baby didn't ask to exist, but you and she did choose to do what you did and take the risk of creating them. You can't expect Ma to take responsibility for YOUR actions. You're old enough, aren't you?"
"Miraboo—"
"Don't call me that!" the youngest daughter gritted her teeth. "You're not going to pretend everything's okay, not now, Pa."
AgustÃn was shocked and felt as if he'd just been punched. His daughters were truly upset; he could see it in the way they looked at him, in how tense all three of them were, in how they were unconsciously surrounding Julieta, as if to protect her. For the first time, he seemed to realize that he wasn't going to be able to sweep this under the rug.
"...what do you want me to do?" he finally sighed, running a hand over his face. "Alana is willing to try living together, it wouldn't hurt to try, would it?"
"You're crazy if you think we'll let her set foot here" Isabela narrowed her eyes.
"Isa, please" the man pleaded "I don't want to lose you."
"No, you don't want to lose the privilege and security that being married to mom gives you" She rolled her eyes. "You lost us the second you decided to betray her"
"Me? What about what she did?" AgustÃn crossed his arms. "That Y/N girl, what about her?"
Julieta felt time stop, her heart pounding at the thought of him bringing up the kiss. He'd said she didn't owe him any explanations anymore, even urging her to go to you the day he asked her to wait for the divorce, but of course, he was the kind of man who, when cornered, would try to drag anyone with him. Fortunately, her daughters didn't seem interested in anything he said, they didn't even seem to register the insinuation.
"Mom didn't sleep with anyone while the family was at its most vulnerable" Isabela said coldly.
"No, but she—"
"Her feelings changing didn't give you the right to cheat on her" Mirabel added "especially when, all things considered, you were already sleeping with women before Y/N even arrived in Encanto."
AgustÃn remained silent. He knew they were right; the numbers didn't lie, and he couldn't accuse his wife of doing the same thing he had done. Even mentioning the kiss with you wouldn't help his case. After all, what was a simple kiss, after which you both clearly maintained distance and respect, compared to his own continuous affairs with different women?
"I just...your mother wasn't giving me what I-"
"Enough" Isabela interrupted, angry and disgusted. "Not with my mother, you piece of-...not with my mother."
The man looked back at his three daughters, completely on his wife's side, with no intention of budging even slightly. The way they surrounded her, creating a barrier that he wasn't sure if it was meant to protect her or contain her, probably both, was a clear example of how badly he had screwed up, and how fed up his family was with him and his actions.
Then he looked at the papers on the table, the invisible yet lethal threat to the life and comfort he had grown accustomed to over almost 30 years. He had believed himself untouchable, irreplaceable in his wife's life, he had trusted that her calm nature would allow him to cross the boundaries without consequences, and now it was biting him in the ass. It was a battle he clearly wasn't going to win, no matter how hard he tried.
"You said you'd sign and leave when Casita was ready, AgustÃn" Julieta finally spoke again. "To make sure our daughters had a home again before you left. Casita is here, the gifts are back, the papers in order, signed by me...all that's missing is your own signature"
He kept his eyes on the documents for a moment before looking at her. For the first time in years, he truly saw her, the woman he had married, so beautiful and composed despite the passing years, so strong and warm. The woman he had taken for granted, the woman he had failed and hurt. A treasure he knew he would never get back, and it was entirely his fault.
"...alright" he finally sighed, picking up a pen.
A wave of relief and trembling washed over both mother and daughters as AgustÃn began to read the divorce papers, and each second seemed to stretch longer and longer. On one hand, Julieta was happy that, finally, after so much nonsense, he had taken a step back and kept his word. On the other hand, she was nervous. She no longer loved him, but this was definitively closing a chapter that had been too big in her life, and it was scary.
"...I'll go pack" he said simply, handing her the papers after signing.
The ink was still fresh when he left the dining room, without anyone bothering to follow him. Julieta could hear her daughters sigh with relief, the whispered "finally", the lightness that was beginning to settle little by little. But her hands trembled as she stared at the papers between her fingers. Her own signature next to AgustÃn’s, ironically together in ink, when closing their story definitely.
She felt a wave of conflicting emotions, each stronger than the last, from fear to anxiety, doubt, hope, coldness, anger, calm, tranquility. And amidst it all, a single thought rose above all others.
She was free.
No more marriage, no more ties, no more smiles to fake. She had finally achieved that freedom to be and feel whatever she wanted, to love without guilt and as intense as she needed. She could keep her promise to you. She only hoped it wasn't too late.
Isle of Dogs / Game of Thrones / Painting by Jenn Mazza / Unknown / Ancestral Memory by Hari Alluri / Unknown / Venetta Octavia / Emma Tranter / Unknown / Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo / @ machineryangel
i was listening to "The Ballad of Jane Doe" u know that part where she says "time eats all he's children in the end"? I can only remember Cronos u know the God of time? cause he actual eats his children I mean it's kinda dumb but I'm laughing my heart out LOL 🤣
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